It’s just me, in Adelaide

Hi, I’m Reuben. BARE is me, working out of South Australia. There’s no warehouse, no team and nobody else packing your order. When one comes in, I pack it and take it to the post office myself.

I’m telling you that up front because it explains most of what you’ll find here, the good bits and the not-so-good bits.

Why I started it

Bamboo toothbrushes swapped the handle and left the bristles alone. Nearly every one on the shelf still has nylon bristles, which is plastic, pinned in with a staple. You need pliers to pull them out before the handle can go in the compost. The bit that changed was the bit you hold, not the bit that ends up in the ground.

Horse hair fixes that. It’s a by-product of grooming, it’s finer and softer than the boar bristle brushes used before nylon came along in 1938, and it means there’s no plastic in the head. I’ve written the whole thing up, downsides included, in horse hair toothbrush bristles, explained.

One thing I’ll say straight away: it isn’t vegan. Horse hair comes from an animal, so if you avoid animal products this isn’t the brush for you. I’d much rather you found that out now than after you’ve ordered.

How small this really is

The first batch is small. When it sells out, that’s it until the next lot arrives.

There’s no shopfront. The address on the legal pages is a PO Box (PO Box 1222, Main Rd, Blackwood SA 5051) because there isn’t a premises to put there.

It’s a sole trader business, not a company: The Bare Brush, ABN 99 557 604 248.

The brushes are made overseas. BARE is Australian owned, but the brush itself is imported, so you won’t see me call it Australian made.

If you email, it’s me who replies. Usually pretty quickly, unless I’m stuck in the queue at the post office.

Things I won’t say

The rule I write by is simple: if I can’t back it up, I don’t say it.

So you won’t find dental health claims here. I sell toothbrushes, I’m not a dentist, and anything about your gums is a question for yours. Every review you’ll see is from a real customer, word for word. And when I’ve got something wrong, like how other brands’ brushes are put together, I’ve fixed it in the open rather than quietly deleting it.

Some of the guides are more honest than is good for business. The comparison guide says a refillable plastic brush did as well as bamboo in the only life-cycle study there is. The waste estimate admits the figure everyone quotes is only in the right ballpark, and that ours comes from weighing a single brush. I’d rather you trusted the numbers than liked them.

What you’re buying

A bamboo handle with horse-hair bristles woven into the head. No glue, and one small aluminium staple holding the weave. It’s $12.99 for one, $44.99 for four or $79.99 for eight, and postage is free anywhere in Australia. Each brush lasts 8 to 12 weeks, so a four-pack gets you about a year and an eight-pack about two.

If it’s not right, tell me and I’ll sort it out. That’s a lot easier to promise when there’s only one person you need to talk to.